New Truce `A Bad Thing To Do,` Say Croatian Guardsmen

October 10, 1991|By Ray Moseley, Chicago Tribune.

ZAGREB, YUGOSLAVIA — Members of the ``street dog`` platoon of the Croatian National Guard-their shirt fronts stuffed with rocket-propelled grenades-were in a sour mood Wednesday over a cease-fire agreement their government had signed a few hours earlier with the Yugoslav federal army.

``It was a bad thing to do,`` said one soldier manning a blockade just outside the army garrison of Borongaj. His 10 mates nodded in assent.

The agreement provides that Yugoslav soldiers may leave Borongaj with their weapons and equipment by Saturday. It was that clause more than anything that angered the Croatian fighters.

``They will just take the arms, transport them 30 miles or so from Zagreb and use them against Croatian forces again,`` a guardsman said.

The soldiers` comments reflected what appear to be a widely held opinion among troops and civilians alike. Many people think the agreement, like seven previous ones, will not last long and will only help the army.

The agreement calls for an end to the Croatian blockade of Borongaj and of army bases along the Adriatic coast. In return, the army agreed to lift its naval blockade of eight Croatian ports.

Except in eastern Croatia, the cease-fire generally was observed Wednesday, as the two sides began the process of removing the blockades.

Gen. Andrija Raseta, the top Yugoslav army officer in Zagreb, said the army has no obligation to leave Croatia but will vacate the area around Zagreb. He said the only troops definitely leaving will be those in blockaded barracks. He implied the army would consolidate its positions in areas it held outside the barracks.

In Zagreb, the army has 500 men in the Borongaj barracks. Raseta also implied that several thousand troops at the Marshal Tito barracks eventually would go. The Borongaj evacuation, he said, will begin Friday.

Simon Smits, spokesman for the European observer mission, said Wednesday`s talks between Croatian leaders and the army were held in a

``constructive atmosphere,`` far different from the tension that marked their meeting Tuesday.

He said it would take time to implement the agreements, but ``we can call both parties to justice if things go wrong.`` The Europeans had threatened to abandon their peacemaking efforts if the two sides failed to agree on a cease- fire by Tuesday.

The self-described ``street dogs,`` an unusually cocky group, brandished their Kalashnikov rifles outside Borongaj but said they would obey orders not to shoot at the Yugoslav troops when they leave. One soldier said a group of mothers representing Bosnian troops inside the base recently visited their blockade to plead for their sons` lives.

``After that visit, we can`t bring ourselves to shoot at the soldiers in the barracks,`` he said. ``They are all someone`s children, and they are forced to be inside and fight.``

The Croatian troops said about 150 army soldiers had deserted the barracks in recent days and been allowed to return home.

At the gate to the barracks, which was protected by a row of mines, a Yugoslav officer shouted across to reporters: ``This is still not the time for journalists to be here. Peace will come when the time is right.`` Then he strode away.

Blasko Juric, 42, a National Guard commander, agreed that allowing the army to take its weapons is a mistake. ``We need weapons, and I think Croatia will pay a high price for this agreement,`` he said.

Juric said that, in fighting on Sept. 18, Croatian forces set the barracks afire and could have captured the troops, but they were ordered back by their government. He said army troops in the barracks are innocent youngsters ``commanded by idiots.``

``They are crazy, just like Milosevic,`` he said, referring to Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. Juric predicted the war would resume soon and spread to other parts of the country. ``The ninth circle of Dante`s Inferno will be in Serbia`` when the war resumes, he said.

At Popupsko, a village about 15 miles south of Zagreb that has been the scene of intense fighting, reporters found that all 1,000 residents had fled and most of their houses were destroyed or damaged. Sows with litters of piglets trailing behind wandered through streets, searching for food.

Katica Bratkovic, a resident of Velika Gorica, was the only civilian in Popupsko. She had come to feed her mother`s chickens. As she was filling a feed trough, automatic weapons fire sounded a short distance away.

She said she had heard mortar fire 10 minutes earlier. Across the Kupa River on the village outskirts, a plume of black smoke rose in the sky.

Bratkovic said the virtual destruction of the village occurred Oct. 1. Most houses bore large shell holes, and windows were shattered. The steeple of the local church also had been flattened.

``(It) was hell here,`` Bratkovic said. ``We left everything lying just as it was and fled.``

A national guardsman, who gave his name only as Miroslav, 26, said fighting stopped two days ago. ``But it seems that it is going to start again,`` he said.

Asked how long he expects the cease-fire to last, he said: ``It lasts until the moment my enemy sees me and shoots at me.``